Issues that carry the label of “epidemic” threaten humanity on a broad scale and have been the motivation behind some of our most shining achievements. Theft and security breaches related to identity are not just technology problems or nuisances to be tolerated; they have escalated to levels fitting of the label “global epidemic.” The identity epidemic is wide-sweeping, crippling to its victims and a reality that has no place in today’s digital world.

The epidemic is the result of a perfect storm stemming from the wide availability of our personal information on the dark web. The cumulative effect of all the high-profile data breaches in recent years is that the dark web has a deep inventory of our personal information that can be used to apply for credit, open new accounts and even make purchases. Combine that with the fact that we still rely on usernames and passwords for online access, and we have a real problem. If you use your child’s name, pet’s name or your birthday to create passwords and you also use social media, then you can bet that it isn’t so hard to take over your account.

The modern world chooses between two distinct paths when facing challenges. One path is what I like to refer to as the “manage the disease with medication” approach, in which we apply technology or other means to manage the problem. This is often the most lucrative, and therefore appealing, approach because it requires the production and purchase of treatment in perpetuity. The second path is to solve the problem completely. Identity theft is a problem of such scale and harm that I believe it requires the second approach in order for us to move forward.

History tells us that when we deem an issue important enough, we have the ability to conquer it. Dr. Jonas Salk led the creation of a vaccine to eradicate Polio, Ford converted factories to ensure we could produce the equipment needed to win WWII, and our greatest generation volunteered themselves to ensure victory was secured for everyone in the face of tyranny. The challenge of overcoming the identity epidemic rivals our largest in history. Today, we have the technology in our pockets and a flood of market capital being put to work to address this epidemic, so we need to act with urgency.

We are fortunate that the investment community is allocating resources to businesses focused on the digital identity challenges we are facing. One of the risks we are going to have to mitigate as we put these resources to work is to be sure that we address the entirety of the problem. For example, there are many startups looking to play the role of “identity authenticator.” An identity authenticator is great at providing many different ways (e.g., multifactor) that can be applied to prove you are the same person who presented themselves in the past to a website, via a transaction, etc. Many now have gone so far to even include biometric factors. However, few organizations are doing an adequate job of proofing the identity of a person before they provide the use of one of these authenticators. The result is a highly sophisticated process that gives people a sense of security. The issue we need to focus on is that we can easily become comfortable with an illusion of security if the identity of the user wasn’t adequately proofed in the first place. Our future-ready market solutions need to address both identity proofing and identity authentication to truly attack and conquer the issues we face.

While we need to implore industry leaders to address the identity theft epidemic and pursue the conquer path, there are things we as individuals need to do in parallel. We need to find ways to insulate ourselves from identity risk by pushing back on services, apps and other technologies that are used to farm our tendencies without adequately notifying or receiving permission from people. Business leaders need to start forcing this transparency as a method of isolating those who are not acting in the best interest of people. Access to the value offered by our newest technologies shouldn’t solely depend on users’ willingness to allow their actions and information to be harvested. We as individuals should all expect technology options (even though they may require new fees) that provide us the value we are looking for without having to sacrifice our most personal asset to enjoy them -- our identities.

Despite what you have read above, I am an eternal optimist. Because of the fast-moving dynamics in the identity/digital world, I can see the market finding ways to generate plenty of value while driving to conquer the epidemic. In future articles, I plan to hopefully inspire action and call out the risks that we need to overcome together. I'll highlight the identity realities we face, what we can do to help ourselves and where professionals should be collaborating for the benefit of all. These articles will provide insights on promising developments, highlight exciting breakthroughs, call out what is not working and ultimately provide opportunities for us all to play our part in retiring the identity epidemic to the history books.